This question has been annoying the phlegm out of me for quite some time. Since time and immemorial in terms of the gundam franchise, we have been told that minovsky particles generate interference in not only radar but also internal guidance of tracking and "fire and forget" munitions which allow for the existence of mobile suits.

The response of such limited use of weaponized rocketry for both the Federation and Zeon was through either a much larger warhead which took up the space that originally housed the internal guidance systems or with wire-guided missiles akin to the well known TOW design. This is where the question comes in like unwanted relatives and in-laws: what allowed rocket motors to kick said wire-guided missile out of their launch tube, let alone allow the operators to guide the missile to its target if Minovsky Particles are said to effect electronics akin to a continual EMP?

Not only that, but this question extends to even shape charges of warheads for not only vehicular and mobile suit borne weapon platforms, but also rocket propelled grenades and similar infantry small arms such as when both one villager fired an RPG-7 like rocket launcher at the Zeon pilot Arth at time-frame 16:13 and when Shiro fired a rather LAW-like rocket at Topp at time-frame 21:51 during Episode 8 of 08th MS Team.

Were these rocket motors, shape charges and wire guidance charges specially designed or shielded to make them function as they normally would even under minovsky particle interference or is there something in the design that made them EMP resistant? I'm not exactly loosing sleep over this, but I might as well be.

_________________Though he may have his flaws and faults, he was a husband and a father without equal. May the Angels welcome and accept him with open arms.

Rest in Peace, Dad

"If I had seen farther than others, it has been by standing on the shoulders of giants." - Sir Issac Newton

Rockets do not require electronics to fire. Most explosives don't require electronics to explode. But even where they do, an EMP would not stop them from going off. An EMP messes with complex electronics, most explosives that need electricity just need the current flow, which an EMP would not stop. Also shaped Charges are nothing more than normal explosives shaped into special shapes to cause certain types of destruction. The reason they replaced the guidance systems with more explosives was so the weapons could be "dumb" fired. This entrails pointing the end of the rocket launcher at a target, igniting the rocket engine (or using compressed air to fire the weapon from the tube and then igniting the rocket when it is a safe distance from the launch unit), and having the rocket travel in straight line to the target. The bigger bang meant that a direct hit may not be required. A TOW missile can still be guided because the systems are less complex and easier to shield. There is no radar or IR emitters or receivers involved. The O in TOW stands for Optically-tracked. The wired links to the missile operate the fins to steer the missile, realistically that could be done mechanically. In larger weapons it may be possible to shield the guidance systems from the interference but in most cases, this would be either cost or space prohibitive.

So for explosives that utilize an impact fuse such as shape charged warheads in addition to rocket motors that require only an electric detonator for launch are simplistic enough so that the EMP-like effect of Minovsky particles don't prevent their operation or worse, missfire.

But I'm still unsure how the Wire-Guided part of the TOW equation would still function under Minovsky Particle interference if only because the wires themselves are, as far as I can tell, exposed. One can shield, harden, or simplify either the TOW missile or TOW launch station to make them function but the wires themselves are more or less unshielded and would make communication between the two difficult under ideal conditions. I'm not sure what the TOW wires are comprised of and I'm assuming copper and from all the research I did on EMP and copper wiring I did is that copper are very effective conductors of electricity which would fry any electronic and electric-based systems not properly shielded like a grounded Faraday cage. Minovsky Particles, as far as I know, would disrupt said signals sent through the wires. So what would allow such signals to allow the Optically-tracked portion of the TOW equation to work effectively under high Minovsky Particle densities if the Wire-guided is exposed to said interference?

And while we're on the subject of EMP and Minovsky Particles, it's been stated on Gundam Official that after the OYW computers and guidance systems utilize fiber optics and optical circuitry to make missiles viable again to a certain degree. One can postulate that shielding from Minovsky Particle interference is akin to shielding against an EMP attack. From what research I've done and what I've been told, optical fibers and vacuum tubes are inherently resistant to EMP which raises another question: What's the minimal electrical type/composition/whatever that makes them vulnerable to the effects of an EMP and by extension Minovsky Particles.

_________________Though he may have his flaws and faults, he was a husband and a father without equal. May the Angels welcome and accept him with open arms.

Rest in Peace, Dad

"If I had seen farther than others, it has been by standing on the shoulders of giants." - Sir Issac Newton

So for explosives that utilize an impact fuse such as shape charged warheads in addition to rocket motors that require only an electric detonator for launch are simplistic enough so that the EMP-like effect of Minovsky particles don't prevent their operation or worse, missfire.

Basically, yes. We've never heard of anything like that going wrong.

Sabersonic wrote:

I'm not sure what the TOW wires are comprised of and I'm assuming copper and from all the research I did on EMP and copper wiring I did is that copper are very effective conductors of electricity which would fry any electronic and electric-based systems not properly shielded like a grounded Faraday cage. Minovsky Particles, as far as I know, would disrupt said signals sent through the wires. So what would allow such signals to allow the Optically-tracked portion of the TOW equation to work effectively under high Minovsky Particle densities if the Wire-guided is exposed to said interference?

Clearly, whatever wires that are used aren't affected by Minovsky Particles, be they copper or something else (We have no idea what they actually are, or if different wires are used by different weapons, as Gundam doesn't go that in depth most of the time ). One would assume this also applies to the various other wired weapons we see used, like those on the Neue Ziel and other non-Newtype suits, but clearly, it's an issue they took care of early on.